THought I'd start a results thread. I finished second at the first event behind a completely sick WRX STi on 285's. I did beat a couple of Talons, though.

 

Feb 26th - 1st of 4, FTD (Avon street tires)
March 26th - 1st of 3, 4th overall (Avon street tires, bad cone day)
April 2nd - 1st of 13, 2nd overall (Avon street tires, rain)
April 23rd - 1st of 5, FTD (Avon Tech R)
April 30th - 1st of 5, 2nd overall (Yok A048s, rain)
May 7th - 1st of 8, FTD (Avon Tech R)
May 21st - 1st of 14 (Avon Tech R at Peru) 8th overall (couple of National champs there in DP and EM)
June 4th - 2nd of 10, 11th overall(Yok A048s, bad cone (concentration) day, took 1 fun run and went over a second faster than class winner)
June 25th - 1st of 10 (Avon Tech R), 2nd overall
July 23rd - 1st of 3, FTD (Yok A048s)
July 29th/30th CENDiv at Peru - 2nd of 8 (Avon Tech R)
August 13th - 1st of 3, FTD (Avon Tech R (87 runs on them now))
August 27th - 1st of 10 (Yok A048), 5th overall
September 2nd - 1st of 2, FTD (Yok A048)
September 3rd - 1st of 3, FTD (Yok A048) geez, where did the SM cars go?
September 17th - 1st of 2, 4th overall (Avon street tires)
October 8th - 1st of 3, FTD (Avon Tech R, that's it for this set)
October 15th - 2nd of 14, 14th overall (Yok A048, tires are now dead)
November 5th - 1st of 2, 4th overall (Avon street tires)
November 11th, only 1 SM car, 3rd overall (Avon street tires, also now dead)

1st SM and 10th overall on PAX in CSCC region (missed a points event that counted due to surgery), 1st SM and 5th overall on PAX in Indy Region

Scott
90SM

 

Veni,

I'm really interested to know how much of an advantage you feel twincharging is in autocross. You must be one of the few folks who could shed some light on that...

I'm relatively new to autocross, and I compete primarily in a street tire version of SM with my local club. My best result recently was 8th in a field of about 20--- I was the fastest front-wheel drive car, but beat out by Corvettes, miatas and STis. I was on crappy Goodyears, hope to do better next time on some Azenis and a Quaife LSD that I'm adding in August.

Mod-wise, I have "the usual" SM items: 16x7.5 SSR rims, Helix Camber Plates and upper/lower rear control arms, H-Sport springs & rear sway bar, Alta CAI, WMS Throttle Body, 15% S/C pulley, GRS Intercooler (on order: M7 Extreme Hood scoop), 2% crank pulley, Unichip, Milltek Header/Exhaust, catch can.

 

The TurboKompressor is helpful, espescially if you have more than, say, 2 seconds of WOT. The power is amazing but is neither overwhelming or on/off like some turbo setups can be.

My main competition is awd vehicles in our region. I was 2nd again yesterday by .04 secs. I jst wish I had a little more talent for this. I'm definately mediocre , at best.

 

Man, it sounds like you're doin' alright! I'm not in the hundredth-of-a-second-win margin just yet. But what I've found is that this is a sport that you just get better at with time, and some racers I know have taken years to start being competitive (and some who participate in our club have taken years but they are now *nationally* competitive).

2nd for a MCS in SM sounds great... good for you!

 

Well, I'm now running SM (I was in DSP in 2005 and STX before then) at the WDC Region events - we average 20 cars in SM, and average 250 drivers per event. I've placed 10th, 11th, and 5th so far this year. With my 5th place finish, I was still 2 sec behind 4th place and 3 sec behind the class leader. My wife co-drives with me and after finishing 19th in the first two events, she placed 10th in the 3rd event. We have a lot of fun and mostly just try and improve our driving skills.

There are a lot of really fast cars and really fast drivers in this region.

The thing I like about SM is I can pretty much tweak my S as I like without classing issues.

David

 

The sad thing is that some of the fast drivers can hop in my car and beat my time when we do fun-runs at the end of the day. There's one guy, who drives an STS Civic, who is my yardstick. When I can finally beat him in my car I'll call myself good.

 

Awesome! Another SM convert. Totally agreed--- why do things half way?!

 

Great results Scott. Did MINIUSA give you any money for doing so well??

2005-2006 was my second SCCA solo II season.
First season I was nearly last place for the first 6 events then in the last 5 events I did much much better. I also switched from street tires to R compound tires, a requirement in SM class.

11 events and one Run Off Championship
1. 1st of 18 in class, 3rd overall of 84 raw times, 7th PAX
2. 3rd of 16 in class, 5th overall of 85 raw times, 9th PAX
3. 1st of 6 in class, 2nd overall of 90 raw times, 3rd PAX
4. 2nd of 13 in class, 4th overall of 96 raw times, 5th PAX
5. 5th of 14 in class, 10th overall of 98 raw times, 18th PAX
6. 3rd of 8 in class, 7th overall of 103 raw times, 8th PAX
7. 2nd of 5 in class, 8th overall of 83 raw times, 17th PAX
8. 4th of 9 in class, 16th overall of 100 raw times, 20th PAX
9. 3rd of 11 in class, 13th overall of 90 raw times 23rd PAX
10. 4th of 10 in class, 18th overall of 98 raw times 25th PAX
11. 1st of 11 in class, 5th overall of 108 raw times, 8th PAX
Ended season with 92 points in 2nd one point behind the leader.

Run Off (only the best drivers on points for the season)
1st of 6 in class, 4th overall of 58 raw times, 9th PAX
Winning margin 0.25 seconds

Season Pax overall finish- 8th
I hit 6 cones total in 12 events (0 cones in 7 events)
Early and late in the season I had Kumho V710 tires which worked the best for me. Wider 225/45-15 Avon Tech Ra tires were not sticky for me.
About 8 different MCS drivers in SM class all season.
About 40 total different drivers- many are experienced.

Tire notes-
Used Kumho V710 205/50-15 on 15x7 Kosei K1 TS rims
Did OK at end of 2005 season and into early 2006 season until event 5.
I felt that after 10 events the tires were not sticking how I would like so I switched to Avon Tech Ra 225/45-15 on the same rims and ran them for 5 events before switching back to V710s for event 11 and the Run Off (new tires were great for both events).

For 2004-2005 the best I did was finish 6th in SM class.
I didn't qualify for the Run Off.

I have found that in order to do well you have to be very smooth and aggressive with driving all out at every possible moment while respecting the slower (sharp turns) areas. To get the feeling of doing that get one of the top 5 drivers to drive your car on the course at the end of the day. Then next event drive just like that- most of the time your MINI is not holding you back.

 

Nope, no bucks in the positive side of the ledger. Just regional results. I don't have enough vacation to make it to too many divisional events, much less national. I may only make it to two this season (at Peru, IN). If I was going to do more big events I would have stayed in STX were the car was well prepared and classed. SM will always be an uphill battle for a MCS, I'm afraid. I just like driving the car.

Nice results yourself Minihune. You clearly do better on the Khumos, based on your PAX results. Great improvement in just two seasons.

As for your comments about driving, I agree. Smooth is the key, while always looking for areas to brake a little later or less. For me, I've found that sticking to the shortest line is also almost always fastest. In big long sweepers, playing "huggy pole" and following the tightest radius works best. Medium to high speed chicanes are another matter, of course. That's where our cars really shine!

Scott
90SM

 

Updated results. Regional event at Peru, which brought folks from all over as usual.

Scott
90SM

 

Well I'm not doing as good as I would like. There is very few in SM where I run so it is hard to tell how I'm doing but when stock Cars have better times I feel that I'm not doing so hot.

Last weekend I went to 205/50/16 and added a rear Sway bar. Today I got a new file from Mth Cartune so maybe I can get a little more power from that too. But what I need is a open parking lot and time to learn.
Last weekend I did find a open parking lot to try out the rear sway bar.

This coming weekend I will be in the SEDiv Divisional Solo Event.

 

Sill working my way up from the basement, but with a grand total of 2 events under my belt, how can I complain?

Russ

 

I've been getting progressively better, classing myself in SM Novice, where I'm running middle of the pack for Novice, but beating out (barely) a few other Mini's in the SM class. It's so clear to me I need race rubber and camber plates at this stage... Pirelli P Nero Zero's are not the best for grip... although they have done better than I expected in all honesty. I'm still running on S-Heavies as well, so that's another part of the equation. So I'll put it this way, I think if I can get the WMS Exhaust when it's ready, Camber Plates and Race rubber on light wheels, I should be able to run with some other big boys in SM down here.

Oh yeah, after 5 events now, I have managed to avoid any and all cones... but I'm sure their day will come. ;-)

 

I remember my first year. I was very proud of the fact that I had hit no cones all year. Turns out, you can't be your fastest if you never hit any cones. At the Evolution Autocrossing school this year one instructor had me intentionally hit a particular cone on one run, then try to just barely miss it the next to demonstrate how to be close. In a decent sized slalom there's tenths to be had if you're 3 inches off of the cones and not 9-12 inches.

Now go and kill some cones!

 

Being my first year, I'm learning from alot of people but I did do a bad thing where I stopped to miss a cone but someone told me if I would have just hit the cone I would have had a better time. True It took me a least 2 seconds to get going again. And a cone only counts one or two seconds right?
Anyway Since then I will hit the cone if I have too.

 

Updated results in my first post.

How's everyone else's hot weather portion of the season going?

Scott
90SM

 

I'm still in the top third of SM, and my wife continues to improve. At the 16 July event I was 7th and she was 9th. She was less than 3 sec behind me and continues to close ground. I was close to to 5th and 6th place but still well behind the top 4 in the class. We both took Evolution Schools in early July (her Phase 2, me Phase 3) and that helped us both. She is learning to trust the car more.

I just purchased a 2002 911 Carrera 2 Coupe - and am going to try that in SS at our next event if i can find some used 17" rims and get some Toyo RA1's mounted in time. SS in our region is Elises and 04 & earlier Z06's and of course some very good drivers. I don't know how much I will autox the Porsche, but I've gotta try it at the limit.

David
37SM

 

I would love to try the 911. Hope you enjoy it! Feel free to post back with some pics of it in action.

Scott
90SM

 

Got my first 3rd in SM a couple of weeks ago! I went from S-heavies an 215 45 Yoko ES 100's to 15" K-1's and 205 50 Kumho MX. I also went to 3/32 toe out. All this AND rain seems to have been the magic combo to finally work for me!

Russ

 

for me so far its been

3rd , 1st , 2nd , 4th, 2nd, 4th, 5th

Dont think im doing to bad. seeing im the only one in the class not running R compound tires.

 

I have only done it twice, but here are the results.

1st of 6 and 2nd of 7 (I lost to a highly modded 06' Mustang GT with R-compounds. My car was running 19 lb. RacingHart CRs with 215-45-17 Sumuitumo HTR+ tires. Once I get a set of Perellis on her, i should be able to post quicker times...

 

Good job guys. Keep it up!

Scott
90SM

 

Updated results in Post #2

Scott
90SM

 

We had only one event before our old venue (Hawaii Raceway Park) closed down and only now we have resumed as of Aug 20. So we took almost four great weather months off this summer with NO place to autocross except for traveling to Maui or Hilo on another island.

With our new site at Aloha Stadium parking lot we have six probation events and might stay or be kicked out for bad behavior
At Hawaii raceway park:
April 1 2nd of 11 in class, 8th overall of 113 raw times, 8th in PAX
Then at Aloha Stadium lower parking lot:
Aug 20 1st of 10 in class, 6th overall of 122 raw times, 8th in PAX
Sept 3 1st of 10 in class, 5th overall of 131 raw times, 8th in PAX
Oct 15 1st of 6 in class, 3rd overall of 97 raw times, 6th in PAX
Dec 17 1st of 10 in class, 4th overall of 110 raw times, 5th in PAX
Jan 7 1st of 10 in class, 8th overall of 103 raw times, 12th in PAX
Jan 28 1st of 9 in class, 6th overall of 128 raw times, 8th in PAX
Feb 4 Missed event, out of town
March 25 Championship Run Off 1st out of 5 in class for run off, 7th overall of 73 raw times, 8th in PAX
End of season



Three wheels are better than four.